Dead Man’s Hand, an anthology of weird western stories, arrives tomorrow, May 13, from Titan Books; and in honor of the occasion, we have an exclusive excerpt to share from Joe Lansdale’s contribution, “The Red-Headed Dead.”

The book features twenty-three previously unpublished stories of horror, fantasy, action, and science fiction by some of our best contemporary authors.

It’s the weird Wild West populated by gunslingers, rattlesnakes, outlaws, zombies, aliens, time travelers, and steampunk.

From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town.

Here are twenty-three original tales—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic—produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers. Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, writer of Cowboys & Aliens.